A suggestion for increasing competition views that’s within lit’s capabilities

[jsmiam]

I realize the futility of proposing suggestions. And I apologize in advance since I’m sure someone’s suggested this before, although I don’t recall seeing this particular topic myself. Nonetheless, here’s one that I know Manu knows how to do, given that several pages including the “works” page and story lists do this already

I suggest - the competition list add the stories sub-title (corrected terminology: “Short Description”) and category. Perhaps get even fancier with a show/hide controller, where users can choose the current shorter form and the longer form I’m suggesting.

I get the impression authors with huge followings and loyal fans (congrats) aren’t as impacted by this as the rest of us, but as it stands, the major buzz phase of a story is while it’s still on the new list and/or while it really is new. Shortly afterwards, while the competition is still active, traffic is still perhaps better than if the story were not in a contest, but the lowering of views is still dramatic. (And natural too. I’m not proposing this as a miracle solution, but just a way to perhaps foster slightly more competition clicks than before.)

With the subtitle and category visible, those random competition viewers might see something that piques their interest, slightly more than the seeing title alone.

To a degree, there is also a minor “wall of text” thing going on with the current list too. Maybe it’s a “privacy fence of text” rather than a wall, but it’s still hard to read. The argument against making the list longer could be tempered by saying it would be longer, but also easier on the eyes.

And finally, obviously, old stories are old. Their viewership declines. It’s natural. But if we go to the trouble of holding contests and writing for them, why not try?

P.S. and use white text on the alternating blue backgrounded rows.

 

[jsmiam]

I can see benefits of including the subtitle (Perhaps when hovering over the title), but I wouldn't want to have the Category to be shown. For me, competitions and challenges are a nice way to get in contact with stories from categories that I'd normally never visit. ...<snip>...

Showing vs hiding the category, I see your point. It’s a tough call though. Because there will be times the category helps keep people away who dislike certain categories or topics and vote with their one bombs and curmudgeonly comments. Full disclosure may be the better path.

I love mouseovers and tool tips too. Catering to Mobile users takes all the fun out of them, unfortunately. :-/

 

[SimonDoom]

I've wondered about this, too, but on balance I think it's better the way it is. Not much information is given about the stories, and that puts everybody in a more equal footing. I sometimes try to guess what the story is about through the title, but often I have to click on it to know, and I might be pleasantly surprised.

 

[KeithD]

I doubt very many writers here are putting a subtitle to their story--or is "subtitle" being misused here?

The way for a writer to increase their competitiveness on Literotica is to post good stories frequently, on a regular basis.

 

[jsmiam]

I doubt very many writers here are putting a subtitle to their story--or is "subtitle" being misused here?.

The correct term was Short description.

 

[KeithD]

The correct term was Short description.

Ah, yes. Subtitles are often used for marketplace works to further explain what the book is about.

 

[NotWise]

I doubt very many writers here are putting a subtitle to their story--or is "subtitle" being misused here?

The way for a writer to increase their competitiveness on Literotica is to post good stories frequently, on a regular basis.

I once used the short description as a subtitle."Her Bodyguard" was subtitled "and His Dirty Valentine."

It didn't really work out for me. Using the short description that way wasted an opportunity.

As to adding more information to the contest page, I'm against it. I think contest stories are on a more level field if the contest page includes only the title. Even adding the author's name focuses readers on some stories if the author is better known and away from others if the author is new or not well-known.

 

[KeithD]

As to adding more information to the contest page, I'm against it. I think contest stories are on a more level field if the contest page includes only the title. Even adding the author's name focuses readers on some stories if the author is better known and away from others if the author is new or not well-known.

As sensitive as the general consensus appears to be here of extreme story elements giving readers the vapors they can't control themselves, I think it would be reasonable for the category to be included on the contest list.

 

[jsmiam]

It’s hard to predict the future. I think there is a skill to choosing titles and descriptions, but they probably don’t impact the score as much as they impact getting a view.

I will confess. I don’t click on every story. But just today while I was scanning the new stories area, I happened across a couple stories that were contest entries, and I clicked on them there (from the new story list and not from the contest listing.)

It’s clicks I’m hypothesizing over. Hopefully other than more votes, it’s not turning everything else upside down.

 

[SisterJezabel]

I thought this initially too, but I have found works through competitions that I might have otherwise ignored as I tend to ignore the category. One person's SciFi and Fantasy is another person's romance.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I agree. If there's only room for two info fields on the competition page, I'd prefer Title and Short Description over the current Title and Author.

It shouldn't matter who's written a story, and if you like a particular author's work you'd be Following them anyway.

 

[jsmiam]

If anyone’s curious, here’s a way to SOMEWHAT see what this “what if” idea might very roughly look like, with some obvious differences. This is just for a distant “use your imagination” approximation of what it might behave like. (I intentionally waited until the end of the contest to write this up, to avoid any talk/speculation that a person might misuse this.)

- Go to Search for Stories
- Type just “valentine”
- Click the Gear icon, and choose “Within the past month”
- And Search.

It’ll show (mostly, with a few exceptions here and there) the same list of stories as the Valentine’s Day contest, along with the Description. (Also, some differences that should NOT be part any revision, this method also shows the score, number of votes, number of favorites, and so on. (Pretend it looks similar to the current contest page, with the description visible as it is here.)

Another approximation/visualization of something else, what if a story snippet showed, can be imagined this way: Go to DuckDuckGo (you can do this at Google too, but DuckDuckGo is more discreet) and search for “Valentine site:www.Literotica.com”. That list would provide a list of results including a snippet, either the first sentence or two or the author’s note. I’ll call this one ‘interesting’, rather than going so far as to suggest it.